Caught in the Act!
by drakonic1
Summary: Caught in the Act!...Of showering? what if Vlad's little prank with the invisible locker room wall in ep. 41 revealed a little more than Danny's tan lines? T for language.On hiatus. Sorry
1. Exposed!

Yah know how a lot of fanfics tend to say that Danny really muscled up, toned down and accumulated his share of battle scars from all the ghost-fighting? Well I was watching ep. 41 "an Eye for an Eye" when Vlad sent the Ghost vultures to turn the Locker room wall invisible while Danny was showering and this is obviously not the case. But what if it was?

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom

* * *

"Hey Tucker. Danny stashed away in the locker room, as usual?" Sam walked up to the table Tucker was sitting at, lunch tray in hand.

"You know Mr. Modesty, after gym class, when he cleans, he cleans alone." Tucker said with a smirk. Tucker was used to the routine; when they had gym, Tucker was generally the last one out, and Danny generally undressed and showered after that. No that Tucker blamed him for not wanting to shower with the other guys; naked and vulnerable + room full of bullying jocks = one hell of a nuisance. That's all the bullying was to Danny anymore, really. Compared to being slammed into the ground by Skulker so hard he made a crater, or punched through a wall by Vlad, or even an impact from one of the box ghost's boxes, Dash's punches where virtually painless. The biggest annoyance, however, was pretending to lose to him over and over when Danny knew he could beat Dash with one punch. And then of course Danny beat himself up over it whenever he was tempted to actually do so. Hell, he could _kill_ Dash with one punch, even in his human form.

"OH MY GOD!" someone yelled. People were suddenly running in from all over and crowding in against the wall, gasping and muttering in hushed voices. Tucker and Sam watched them, puzzled, then pushed their way to the front of the crowd, and gasped themselves, eyes wide. Something had made the wall between the cafeteria and the locker rooms invisible. If someone were to look close enough at the edge of the pulsating hole hard enough they could just barely make out the outline of two large birds. There in the middle of the hole stood Danny, cheerily humming and shampooing his hair. He was naked of course, but that's not (Entirely) why people were staring.

"Who knew that loser Danny was so… muscular!" Paulina said, hiding a small smile behind her hand

"Holy shit! Fenton's more ripped then I am!" Dash said, somewhere between shock and jealousy. It was true. While Danny had nowhere near the jock's bulk, it was obvious to anyone looking that what he did have was 100% muscle. He was skinny as hell, too; his skin was taught over rock hard muscles, not an ounce of fat between them. When he turned just the right way his lower ribs pressed visibly against the skin. By then everyone had started to look closer and the gasping increased. "What's with all those scars? I sure as hell never beat him up that badly." They were nearly invisible, but thin, white scars lined nearly every inch of his skin, like some ghastly spider web. Even Dash looked slightly concerned. Danny also had a few expertly placed white bandages, one on his shoulder and one on his ankle. His eyes closed tight against the shampoo, Danny walked over toward his towel with a limp that he had hidden well prior to then. Having dried his hair he sat down on a bench near the entrance to the showers, back still to the crowd, and started to change the now soggy bandage. As white cloth unwound from his shoulder, strip by strip, a half healed gash was revealed, looking more like a chunk of flesh had been torn away than simply cut. (Skulker had decided to add a spiked mace to his arsenal the previous night) Lancer had pushed his way to the front by then and he swore he saw scraped bone. There was a single loud gasp from the entire 'audience'. This time Danny heard them; he turned to see everyone staring at him, his friends in the front, looking sad and awestruck. Tears swelled in Sam's eyes. _I never realized it was that bad… I… I always figured his ghost powers just made him durable enough to just take it!_

"Oh no," Danny said, his tone unreadable. He tossed his towel over his damaged shoulder and covered his crotch with his hands. He ran to his locker and threw on his jeans, not even bothering with underwear, and was about to put on his shirt when Lancer appeared behind him, along with Tucker and Sam, having apparently stepped through the intangible wall. Actually, Sam was the first to go; yes this was the boy's locker room but she didn't give a shit, if Danny was hurt. Lancer put a hand on Danny's good shoulder and spoke in a kind but severe voice.

"Mr. Fenton, straight to the nurse's office, then to my office; you have a lot of explaining to do." The three friends exchanged nervous looks. _Oh shit._

* * *

Danny's POV

"Never in all my 30 years at this hospital have I seen a mere student so severely, and repeatedly, injured! Judging by how it's healed I'd say that nasty gash on his shoulder is less than a week old, and the broken ankle appears to be a bit less than half way healed, I'd say it was broken about 3 weeks ago." The doctor was obviously shocked and worried but stayed professional. After the school nurse decided that the ankle was broken they moved us to the hospital. I couldn't help but feel a little impatient. _Wrong and wrong, lady, the ankle was three days ago and the cut was last night!_ I was tempted to yell but remained silent. The doctor continued "I'm just amazed there's no infection on the shoulder and that the ankle was set properly! Who took care of your wounds?" _Of course there's no infection, I washed it properly and ectoplasm kills most bacteria, and as for the ankle I turned the flesh intangible and set the bone myself._

"I did it myself." I answered truthfully.

"That's quite impressive Mr. Fenton, but frankly I find it disturbing that you, a fifteen year old _child_, have the experience to perform first aid that is on par with that of a trained battlefield medic, and on yourself no less!" She said. I winced at her words and shifted uncomfortably. Everyone just stared at me, my parents, Mr. Lancer, and the doctors, expecting answers. All I could think was that I would rather be back in the showers, naked in front of the whole school than face that angry, sad, disappointed, and hurt look on Mom's face. The only consolation was they had let Tucker and Sam come too. I decided I had to go with some level of honesty. I sighed in resignation and took a deep breath.

"Alright already I guess there's no point in hiding it anymore. I've been hunting ghosts like my parents, and doing a pretty damn good job of it if I do say so myself." _I've been doing a better job than my parents at any rate._ I was tempted to add but didn't want to piss of Mom or Dad. Sam and Tucker looked worried. They knew that was a little too close to the truth and if they looked into it too much the truth would be blatantly obvious.

"I find that hard to believe. Judging by the x-rays some of your bones appear to have been broken as far back as seven years, are you telling me you've been fighting ghosts since you were eight and your parents didn't even know about it?" she paused and started to look suspiciously at my parents. _Damn doctors are too smart for their own good. At least that confirms my theory on how fast I heal. They're only a year old at the most, so if they look seven years old then I heal 7 times faster than normal… that makes sense for the broken ankle too, three weeks vs. three days, and the cut._ I remained silent, but saw the way everyone was looking at my parents. _Great they think my parents made me do this, or worse, did it to me…though that wouldn't be entirely inaccurate, a few of the burns were from when they shot Phantom, but they don't know that. I'm gonna have to scratch a little closer to the truth._

"No, only a year or so, I just heal really fast, I'm not sure why. The ankle is less than a week old and this scrape is less than a day old." I couldn't tell which surprised them more, that the injuries were so new or that I brushed the shoulder injury aside as a "scrape". "And you have no idea how hard it has been to hide this from my parents, but I've managed to keep them clueless." I tensed, waiting to see if they'd believe that my super fast healing just 'happened', and to see if my parents would feel insulted or see that I was trying to defend them from blame. My parents look softened but the doctor was relentless.

"People don't 'just heal really fast' there's got to be a reason. If you really believe you heal quickly and aren't simply covering for something" she glanced at my parents "Or someone, what makes you heal so fast?" _Damn it I'm gonna hafta go closer._ I let out another exasperated sigh and continued

"There was an accident in the lab when the portal was first made and ever since I've been stronger and faster and I've healed more quickly." I suddenly got an idea that would either answer a lot of questions or raise even more "That's why I've been setting off some of your ghost equipment; I have bit of an ecto signature now." Sam and Tucker winced, knowing as I did that I was getting far too close to the edge, and one wrong breath would make me fall. "That's also part of why I didn't tell you, I didn't want you to think I was a freak or try to experiment on me." _With any luck they'll say something along the lines of "We would never do such a thing" and I can use that if my secret gets out any further._ Luckily they seemed to buy it.

"We would never do such a thing!" Mom said. (I suppressed a laugh) She sounded hurt and a little ashamed, hurt that I would think that and ashamed that she had done anything that would make me think that. Dad just nodded vigorously. He was bad at this emotional stuff and had a tough time talking to anyone for an extended period of time about anything but ghosts. I smiled… "But no more of this Ghost hunting, young man, at least not until you heal and we give you some proper training." And my smile faded.

"But Mom! I've been doing this for ages what kind of training could I possibly get that I haven't already gotten on the job?" this time Dad answered

"The kind that keeps your bones in one piece, that's what kind!" _Ok I walked right into that one. At least they're not asking any more questions._

"What kind of accident? What Portal?" _Well Mom and Dad aren't at any rate. Damn doctor is too smart for her own good._

"Mom and Dad made a ghost portal a little over a year back, and when it didn't work I went inside it and I got shocked." I turned to Dad "You kinda forgot to press the 'on' button before you plugged it in." Dad looked to the ground and shuffled his feet sheepishly, face red. _So far, so good…_

"You were obviously changed by a machine that no one completely understands and you're asking your parents not to run any kinds of tests? This could pose a threat to your health!" _oh crap, how do I get out of this one! Thinkthinkthink…_

"Oh come on, we might be young but we're not stupid, of course we knew this could be bad for Danny so we ran our own tests, then double and triple checked the results against on all of Mr. and Mrs. Fenton's research. Danny's 'condition', whatever it may be, is completely benign to his health." Sam said, undoubtedly spouting the first load of bullshit that came to mind. _Ah good old Sam. I wasn't gonna drag you into this but I've learned the hard way not to turn down your help._ I chuckled inwardly. _Not that I could if I wanted to._

"Wait you knew about this?" Maddie said

"It was my Idea for him to go into the portal in the first place" Sam said somberly

"I assume you kept records of these tests, then?" The doctor asked. Sam faltered, stuttering some random half baked excuse.

"Ah, yeah, that one's my fault, we wanted the files to be secure so I made like a hundred firewalls, but I made it so the files would be deleted if someone tried to hack them, and then we forgot the password… what can I say when the Tucker hides a file it stays hidden." Tucker looked proud of himself. _Ooh nice one Tuck. But I think we're gonna have to give them something to cover for the "loss"._

"But that's the only thing we lost, all the other files are complete." I said.

"'Other files'?" Jack repeated questioningly.

"We have files on all of the ghosts Danny's fought." Sam answered for me.

"And we update them regularly. In fact we just '_updated_' them yesterday— _Right Tucker_?" I said meaningfully.

"Right, of course" Tucker discreetly reached into his pocket and Emailed Jazz from his PDA without even looking. He asked her to erase all mention of Phantom from the files involving me and all mention of me from the files involving Phantom, or anything that would help people put the two together. _Definitely helps to have a techno-geek on standby when you need a message delivered quickly._

"These guys don't know it but I have a file on every injury I've gotten since this all started, too. I'll give it to you if you think it's relevant to this and you promise to keep it confidential. Those are quite heavily encrypted though since I didn't want Tucker to get at them, so I can't get them to you for a while." _That oughta shut that doctor up about medical stuff. 'Course I could never hide something from Tuck if he really wanted to get it but the "heavily encrypted" BS should buy me time to alter those files too…_the doctor seemed satisfied, or maybe she just ran out of questions, but either way, they gave me one last one over, re-bandaged my shoulder, and replaced my unnoticeable makeshift splint with a not so unnoticeable real cast I would have to wear for the next few weeks (I never did manage to convince her that it would be healed by the end of the week.) and they released me, no further questions asked. As we left Tucker and Sam crowded in close in the guise of helping me down the steps of the hospital and we spoke in hushed voices.

"Are we actually getting away with this?" Sam said incredulously

"Dude, you told them, but you didn't tell them… well played." Tucker said

"Yeah well we'll just have to see about that. I dodged a bullet by not exposing myself…"

"You seemed pretty exposed to me. A ghost with tan lines, who knew" Tucker cut in with that sly arrogant smirk I could never bring myself to be (too) mad at.

"AS PHANTOM, but I'm gonna hafta be even more careful if I'm gonna keep fighting as Phantom with my parents watching me, and I'm not looking forward to this training they have lined up for me." I finished, glaring at him, which didn't make for quite the effect I had intended when combined with the small smile playing across my face despite my best efforts. Mom and Dad got to close for comfort and we separated. Everyone got to the Fenton family Ghost Assault Vehicle and piled in without a word, and it was about ten minutes into the drive before anyone make a peep, and that anyone was Dad, assailing me with excited questions about the ghosts I had fought, going for about three minutes without even giving me time to answer between questions until he caught Mom's glare and shut his mouth.

"Danny, you know we love you," Mom started. _This can't end well_ "and it's because we love you that we worry about you. We're proud that you want follow in our footsteps and hunt ghosts, but you have to think about your safety as well. So until you're better and we know we can trust you not to put yourself in any excessively dangerous situations, we want you to wear this." She held up a large, silver, bracelet-like device, the metal about a quarter inch thick, and bit shorter than the length of my forearm, and gave it to me. _I guess I have no choice._ I put it on. It fit perfectly against my skin, not too tight and not too loose, and gave the impression of a short metal sleeve. I gulped as I heard something click into place; the bracelet was locked on.

"And this is… what exactly, other than a hell of a weird fashion statement?" I asked.

"It does a lot of things, but first and foremost it's a tracking device." Mom said.

"That detects GHOSTS!" Dad burst out

"And it will read you're vitals to watch for abnormalities" Mom said as she glared at Dad

"And gage the level of Ecto energy in nearby GHOSTS!" Dad exclaimed, toning it down only slightly.

"And tells us about any threats near you, and emergency visual communication," Mom

"And last but not least it has an emergency laser you can use against GHOSTS!" Dad

"So you'll have no freedom whatsoever as it monitors your every move and allows us to keep you safe." Mom finished, and Sam, Tucker and I exchanged a very worried look

…_Oh shit._

* * *

AN This Idea Just kinda popped into my head and I had to make it. I initially intended to make this a one shot but I kinda like the idea, and I wanna continue, cause now Danny'll hafta get used to fighting without his powers, or at least find a way to hide his powers. 'Sides, this is a really bad "ending" for a one shot. I guess I'll leave it up to the readers, if enough want it continued I will continue it. I was tempted to make this a "House" crossover briefly when I started the part in the hospital but that would've been to complex. R&R!

Update: BIG thanks to JackieDanielStark for bringing to my attention that the latter part switched from 1st to 3rd person repeatedly. Guess that's what happens when you're writing that late at night anyway I think I fixed it this time so enjoy the story (a bit closer to) error free


	2. Except maybe that

Holy Crap 10 Favorite plus and 5 reviews within 24 hours of posting! Thank you everyone! I guess I managed to do a good job, and I hope to continue that. I'm not entirely sure where to go with this since like I said I first thought of it as a one shot. I'd be happy to hear people's Ideas!

On with Chapter 2!

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

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Chapter 2: Except maybe that.

Maddie's POV

The alarm clock blared by the bed, much too loudly in my opinion, at a painful 80 decibels, but considering Jack slept right through it most mornings, curled up like a giant pink grizzly bear, I could hardly complain. I got out of bed and changed out of my yellow and purple ghost print pajamas into my usual form fitting blue jumpsuit. I went downstairs and put on a pot of coffee, contemplating yesterday's revelations. _Danny has been fighting ghosts for the past year without us even realizing it! He trusted all… both his friends, but was afraid to tell us, his parents? He even told Jazz! Well he hadn't told her but she still knew, which is more than Jack and I can say… _That was the second surprise of the day. When we got home Jazz was busy on the computer, looking through the ghost files that we hadn't even know existed, and frantically tried to close them when we went down into the lab, apparently trying to hide them from us until Danny told her it was ok since we already knew. _I mean Danny's been acting a little distant and secretive lately but Jazz was always the good one! That even she would hide things from us…_

I poured myself a mug of coffee and decided to go and check if Danny's locator was working properly. The computer screen lit up and after a few minutes the data from last night was on the screen. I nearly spat up my coffee. _These readings can't be right!_ Several things were wrong with the data, first being that Danny had apparently spent a good chunk of the night in the Lab. The near continuous stream of Ecto energy signatures matching the Fenton blasters and the fact that Danny was moving back and forth across the lab so fast seemed to indicate he was training. Then he spent a good half hour stationary in the corner of the lab with gym equipment, running on the treadmill if his increased heart rate was any indicator.

_That's another thing, his vitals are all wrong!_ I pulled up the data from later that night when he was asleep, hoping to see some semblance of normalcy in his readings at rest. No such luck. His body temperature was at a somehow stable 85 degrees Fahrenheit, at which he should be suffering from hypothermia, and his resting heart rate was rather high at 110, and his blood pressure was an unusually low though not necessarily 'unsafe' 85/70. Throughout the training session his heart rate never exceeded a moderate 160, and 170 on the treadmill. _He's in remarkably good shape to keep his heart rate so low, running at…_ I accessed the computerized history of gym usage… _12 miles per hour! On a broken leg, for over half an hour? … Well he seems healthy, so I guess this is the new "normal" for him…_ I managed to shrug it off. _But I don't like him staying up until midnight._ I did a quick inventory of the arsenal. _Hmm, 2 guns, an ecto- staff, a Fenton thermos, and a specter deflector missing…_I went back upstairs to fry some bacon and heat some fudge. The only things that could wake Jack up was either a ghost attack or a nice plate of hot fudge bacon, and as damages caused by faking the former were not cost effective, the smell of a heart-attack-on-a-plate would have to do. By the time the bacon was done, the fudge was melted, and breakfast was cooking for everyone else, Jack had charged down the stairs and sat at his place, drooling expectantly. Jazz followed shortly after. I wanted to let Danny sleep as long as possible but when it really got to crunch time I sighed and went up to wake him.

I knocked gently on the door if his room. Nothing. I knocked a little harder. Still nothing. Sighing, I opened the door. Danny was in bed, wearing the gym shorts he had presumably trained in last night; he wasn't wearing a shirt or anything else though. This was the first time I really got a good look at his scars, since I was a little too distracted by the situation in general to really inspect him. It was surreal and heart wrenching to see my little baby boy so big, so strong, so hurt; I held his good shoulder and gently shook him.

"It's time to get up, honey. Sweetie? Wake up. Come down for breakfast and see me before you leave, I want to have a word with you about staying up until midnight on a school night, and after you were told to take it easy for a while." As I squeezed his muscular shoulder and looked at his solid, slightly gaunt physique I understood the weird feeling I got on the rare occasion he let me hug him, what had been "off". He stirred and mumbled some barely intelligible affirmative response. I smiled a sad smile and walked back out the door. When I was about half way down the hall I heard a commotion in Danny's room.

"Wait! How did she know…? Damn bracelet!"

* * *

Danny's POV

The nothingness swirled around me, dark, dreamless slumber numbing my senses, blissfully unaware of the outside world. Suddenly, a single word pierced the nothing and floated through my mind, pulling me back to the real world, quickly joined by others

"…Honey…sweetie, wake up… come down … breakfast… see me… staying up till midnight on a school night… told to take it easy for a while". I groaned. _Sure thing mom I'll be down in a minute, _I thought, trying to make my mouth form the words as well.

"Shuurthnmmbdowmin..," blinking against the light, I opened my eyes and the fog cleared just in time to see Mom close the door behind her. Then the latter half of her statement hit me. "Wait! How did she know…? Damn bracelet!"

I got dressed quickly and stashed the gear I taken from the arsenal in holsters under my shirt, the Fenton thermos in my backpack in its usual secret compartment. _Damn it how could I let myself sleep in so much! _I swallowed my eggs in one bite and washed them down with a huge gulp of milk. I grabbed a piece of Fenton toast, wondering vaguely for the millionth time where the heck Dad got a Jack shaped bread pan, and made a break for the door, trying to avoid that talk with mom. No such luck.

"Danny, I see you sneaking off, young man! You aren't getting out of training until _midnight_ that easily. I thought we told you to take it easy for a while?" _Damn it maybe I should have waited but I'm not used to fighting without my powers, so practicing with those stupid guns was my only option._

"I'm sorry mom really I just needed to unwind, bad excuse I know, but could we please discuss this later I need to get to school!" I said in a somewhat frantic voice. Surprisingly, mom smiled and nodded, and I ran past her.

"Danny?" I'd only gotten past her by five feet. I stopped, cringing instinctively. Mom put out her hand with a (smug?) smile. "The guns." _*Sigh* she's good._ I reached into my shirt and pressed the buckle that held the holsters in place, catching the straps and attached guns as they fell. I handed them to Mom and ran off. _A least she let me keep the other stuff... wait, if she knew about the guns she must've know about the specter deflector, thermos, and the ecto staff… so she did "let me" keep the gear… _I turned back as I ran, stupid cast thumping the ground, and smiled. _Thanks mom. _

A few blocks down I let my usual nervousness slip away some as I headed to school, for once not interrupted by any ghosts. _I guess I only attract their attention when I'm flying…_

"Aaah, there you are whelp! I didn't see you here on the ground, why aren't you flying as usual? Have you realized the terror that is Ghost World's greatest Hunter, and decided to hide?" _Or maybe I'm just more visible that way, and they're only late today because it took a bit longer to find me. _

"Me? Hide? In your dreams, Skulker! I just thought I'd mix things up a bit. You want a fight, come down here and get it Skulker!"

* * *

Dash's POV

_I still can't get over it! I'm not sure what exactly is going on with Fenton but it's freakin me out!_ I walked through the halls lazily, not really caring if I got on to class on time since that touchdown in the last game means the teachers will give plenty of leeway. No one knew exactly what had happened to the geek but rumors were flying, each one more unlikely than the last, from ghost stuff to military or gang involvement to parental abuse to friggin alien abduction._ I mean he's obviously stronger than me, so how come he's… let me_ (it was hard to admit, but that seemed to be the case) _wail on him for the past… however long it's been since he's been so built?_ I was deep in thought, which was how I didn't like to be unless I really had to. I was getting pissed as I thought of all the possible outcomes of the situation. Best case scenario, it turns out that Fenton really is just a loser wimp anyway, and I keep beating on him like always, even if he is stronger. Worst case scenario, Fenton turns out to be some kinda hard-ass gang thug who was just hiding for convenience sake and now that the secret's out he'll have nothing to hide and will have no problem beating down on anyone who gave him trouble. _Shit that's me!_ I shook my head. _No, I did __not__ just feel afraid of Fentina! Nothing could make me afraid of that little… _Just then the doors behind me burst open, and a ghost in an enormous metal suit soared in, slamming someone into the lockers, completely trashing them. I started to shake. _What the hell! I'm outta here!_ I started to turn and run but then noticed that the "Someone" the ghost… I think he calls himself "Sulker"… had pinned against the lockers was Fenton. He struggled as the ghost held him calmly with one hand, allowing a long, glowing blade to slide out of his other arm, a wide, maniacal smile spread on his face.

"I've got you now, ghost child! Today, I mount your head on my wall." _Holy…! I-I gotta do something! Gotta do… gotta …_ I wanted to look away but couldn't, frozen in place by fear and delir…delari… craziness. It was over in a single sickening slash, and, I'm ashamed to say it but can say it no other way, I shrieked like a little girl as his head rolled off his shoulders, tumbled to the floor and stopped against my foot, cold, blank eyes staring up at me. _Allow me to restate; nothing can make me afraid of Fenton except maybe THAT!_

* * *

A/N I'm evil, I know :)


	3. What just happened?

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

Chapter 3 What just happened?

Sam's POV

It was a few minutes into class and Danny was late, as usual. I looked at the clock. _A bit more so than usual actually… I hope he's alright…_

Just then there was an enormous crash from out in the hall. _Me and my big… hey no fair I didn't even say anything!_ I rushed up to see what had happened. I was the first one out in the hall, followed by the rest of the school, or so it seemed. Now, seeing the large metal ghost and the crushed lockers, this is about when people would normally start to start to scream and run around like idiots. But this time, they saw what was usually only seen after they were long gone; Danny fighting. Well, sort of. Skulker had him pinned against the well dented lockers, struggling to break free. Skulker's face darkened with a demonic grin and he shifted his grip, holding Danny up against the lockers with one hand and leaving the other free for attack. A long, glowing blade slid out of Skulker's free arm.

"I've got you now, ghost child! Today, I mount your head on my wall." _No…Danny!_ Danny's face looked resigned and he hung limp, breathing hard. Skulker pulled back his fist, the blade shining bright and deadly. He lunged, moving the blade down and forward with inhuman speed. Danny's eyes opened and a small smirk came across his face as he made his move.

When the blade was mere inches from his face Danny's leg shot up with a single powerful kick, deflecting the blow right into Skulker's other arm and setting Skulker off balance. Danny slipped out of his grasp, the now disembodied hand that was holding him offering no resistance whatsoever. Skulker's right arm was still moving along the wide arc that had severed his hand and it seemed that's just how Danny wanted it. He grabbed the arm, pushing Skulker down and his arm up. He hit Skulker's shoulder hard, and it broke with an odd green flash that to the inexperienced eye seemed to come from the armor, but I knew better. Skulker crashed to the floor and Danny moved the arm full swing, using the added flexibility of the broken shoulder to swing the bladed limb right at Skulker's helmet, chopping it off with one fell swoop. Danny did this in one smooth, graceful, and, had his opponent been alive, Deadly movement that took all of 5 seconds. It was then that I noticed Dash standing there, scared stiff. The helmet rolled to his feet and stopped there, the now dark and empty eye sockets staring up at him.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" he shrieked like a little girl. Danny smirked at him and calmly drew the Fenton thermos from his back pack, walked over and reached into the helmet, much to Dashes continued distress and apparent disgust. He pulled out the squirming green mass that was Skulker held him at eye level, laughing.

"Better luck next time Skulker!" he lifted up the thermos and sucked the diminutive ghost into it in a blast of blue light, screaming a clichéd "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Danny!" I ran up and practically tackled him with a brief hug before pulling away and starting to check him for injuries.

"Are-you-ok-oh-my-god-I-was-so-scared-shit-he-destroyed-those-lockers-with-you-are-you…" Danny put a finger to my lips, silencing me.

"Relax, Sam, it's just a few bruises. I'll be fine. You know I've been thrown around a lot worse than that. " I hugged him again, feeling him tense slightly

"Doesn't stop me from worrying." He relaxed and hugged me back for a few seconds, then froze.

"Aaaahhh, Sam"

"Yeah?" I backed off, blushing a bit, but he was too busy staring over my shoulder to notice.

"How long has everyone been standing in the hallway?" I cringed _oh yeah I forgot about them._ I looked back behind me to see the entire school just standing there, staring, crowded in a single mass. Their faces were invariably locked in either pure shock from the fight or sly smiles from Danny's and my actions afterwards

"Since right before you beheaded Skulker."

"I really need to be more aware of who's around me."

"You can say that again."

"We're gonna be getting a lot more 'Lovebird' comments from here on out aren't we?"

"Oooohhhhh yeah" I said with a small smirk.

"Great." he said, grimacing. "Well this couldn't get any more humilia-" CRASH! "Me and my big mouth." Mr. and Mrs. Fenton crashed through the wall, completely ignoring the door 5 feet away, brandishing an impressive array of weapons

"Danny! We saw the ghost on your locator and came here but it just vanished a couple minutes ago! What happened?" Mrs. Fenton said. She paused, and, seeing that there was obviously no immediate threat, lowered her weapons, much to the relief of the bystanders who were ducking and weaving to stay out of the line of sight of the guns (Or in the line of sight in the case of _Mr_. Fenton's weapons.) She looked at Danny, then at the armless and decapitated ghost armor, and then back at Danny, her jaw dropping a bit lower each passing second. Mr. Fenton, however, was a little slower on the draw, and after looking everywhere _but_ where the ghost was (er, had been,) he spotted the busted ghost armor.

"_**GHOST!**_" He shouted and blasted it to bits.

"Why me?" Danny muttered, too softly for anyone other than me to hear. Well Dash could probably hear, as he was still cowering a few feet away. I smirked. He was probably thinking of all the times he'd pushed Danny up against those very lockers, and, seeing what Danny was capable of, was justifiably terrified of the boy, worried for the ramifications of his years of bullying. He trudged through the crowd, which parted in combined disbelief and new-found respect, and a faint hint of fear, and into the classroom. Their 'entertainment' gone, the students followed suit and headed back to their classrooms, followed by the teachers. The last was Lancer, who looked at the Fentons with an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. I headed into class too. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton stood there awkwardly, now alone in the hall.

"No, seriously, what happened? ...Is that blond kid ok? Hello, anybody?"

* * *

A/N Hahahahahahahaha! Danny kicks ghost ASS! Sorry for the suspense last chapter I just couldn't resist. The "he" referred to in the last chapter as the one whose head was chopped of was obviously Skulker, so Danny didn't die, needless to say. If this is too confusing or doesn't make as much sense typed out as it does in my head, please tell me I'll see if I can't revise it so it makes more sense. Sorry this is a bit short; just consider it a continuation of the last chapter, I really hadn't intended to make it that short to begin with. R&R!


	4. Lessons learned

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* * *

Dash's POV

"I've got you now, ghost child! Today, I mount your head on my wall." _Holy…! I-I gotta do something! Gotta do… gotta …_ I froze in place as the ghost lunged at Fenton. I was sure Fenton was a goner, but then he deflected the hit and tore the ghost to shreds like it was nothing. Nothing! I screamed when the helmet across the floor to my feet, but Danny just smiled at it and pulled the ghost out of it, laughing! _Laughing!_ _Fenton isn't that strong! He can't be that strong! He can't be! That would mean he's stronger than me and that would mean I'm puny! I don't do puny! I don't do puny…_ I blacked out.

* * *

Danny's POV

*Sigh* I wish everyone would stop staring at me and pay attention to the lesson for once! _Yeah, right, 'cause Shakespeare is SO much more interesting than a classmate who just beat up a ghost unarmed, with his back up against the wall_. I was especially annoyed by the "unarmed" thing. Skulker had managed to knock away the ecto staff away after the first ten minutes or so, and I had accidentally grabbed one of the unmodified specter deflectors so I couldn't use that until Tucker reprogrammed it to recognize and ignore my ecto-signature, which left me with only the thermos which might as well have been on the moon as impossible as retrieving it from my backpack mid fight was. Class went excruciatingly slowly although I actually managed to absorb some of the information as there was none of the usual chatter and no ghost activity. Well the box ghost showed up, floating down from the ceiling five feet away from me, but I sensed him before he even entered the room and wrapped the specter deflector around a textbook, getting plenty of odd looks as I prepared my makeshift weapon, and threw it at him, before he got past "Beware!", sucking him into the thermos before he even had time to fly back into the wall. Definitely a good thing, since I threw the book a little harder than I meant to and the impact probably would have broken the blackboard.

"I am SO not in the mood today boxy." I said as he was sailed into the container. I looked around and chuckled nervously as once again all eyes were on me, but, mercifully, that was just when the bell rang for the end of the period. I let my head fall against my desk for a few seconds, taking even this little respite in the hectic pattern of ghost-school-ghost-school. Sam appeared behind me and I managed to give her a weak smile. I took a deep breath and got up, picking up the book and Deflector on the way to the door. we left the classroom to find that everyone had already moved on to their next class, except for Dash, who was still huddled at the edge of the hall, hugging his legs with his head buried against his knees, where he had been during the attack. _What the… was he there all period?_

"Wow, I've always wanted to see Dash knocked down a peg but that is just sad."Sam said, shaking her head. I couldn't help but agree. I walked forward and stood right in front of the blond haired jock, pity evident on my face, I was sure.

"Uuuuuh… Dash? You ok?"I said, tentatively shaking his shoulder. He looked up at me, his expression confused and slightly hysteric. But it quickly changed to anger. He pushed my hand from his shoulder and stood up quickly.

"Of course I'm OK Fenton, you think just 'cause your stronger than me now you get to pay-trun-ize me with stupid questions?" Dash grabbed me and slammed me against the lockers. "You're stronger than me but I know you're still the same puny Fentina you've always been!" _OK, the lockers thing is getting old really fast,_ I thought, annoyed,_ and he seems to have repressed the Skulker incident._ Sam stood to the side, confused and irritated.

"What's your problem Dash, Danny was just trying to be nice. And didn't you learn a thing from Danny's fight with Skulker? Danny doesn't need to take this shit from you."

"Fight? What's your creepy girlfriend is goin on about? Do you really expect me to believe that you, puny little Fentina, fought a ghost?" _Yup he forgot all about it._

"Sam is not creepy! …And she's not my girlfriend!" I added a little too slowly. "Now will you put me down so we can get to class?" I was starting to get really pissed.

"No! I've got you now, Fenton! Today, you're mine!" Dash screamed, lifting me higher against the locker and smiling meanly, though the overall effect was nowhere near as intimidating as when Skulker had done it less than an hour before. _Déjà vu, anyone? _

"*sigh* let's get this over with" Dash threw a punch, strong, fast, and precise. By human standards, that is. To me it was slow and sloppy and I caught it easily, squeezing his fist and bending back his arm until he pulled away. He looked shaken but still held me up stubbornly. I sighed and grabbed the front of his shirt, then lifted him up. Well, since he had me lifted up, first I went down, and then he was raised, much to his surprise. I spun around and slammed him against the locker were I had been moments before. I could see the surprise becoming a spark of fear as I pulled back my fist slowly, nice and dramatic, and he cringed and closed his eyes as I struck out my hand with inhuman speed… and flicked his forehead. Dash opened his eyes, nervous and confused. I took a deep breath and put him down. _No, I'm not gonna get anywhere by bustin' his face in, he'll just hate me more and be even more of an annoyance, just like that little prank war with Vlad that got my secret partially revealed in the first place._

"I got into this mess because I had to get revenge over insignificant little quarrels." I turned away and started to walk off. "You're not worth the trouble. Let's just call it a truce and stop the stupid fighting." I didn't have to look at him to know his jaw was practically on the floor and his pride shattered. I glanced over at Sam and she was smiling at me, proud and slightly amused. I managed a weak smile back and we headed to our next class.

* * *

Vlad's POV

_Ah the Nasty Burger, what a crude and ill named little eatery, It's hardly worth the 10 million I bought it for but it is Daniel's favorite "Hang out" so it will be worth the look on his face when he watches it fall and crumble into oblivion!_ I watched the restaurant closely to make sure Daniel and his friends were inside when I sent in the GIW to announce the evacuation. I listened closely for the expected reaction.

"Everybody out! This is an evacuation!" _GIW Stooge…_

"This place is being demolished by order of the new owner." _Another GIW Stooge…_

"New owner?"_ Ah that's who I wanted to hear, there's my cue!_ Two GIWs moved to the side and I stepped forward nice and dramatically.

"That's right, Daniel!" he blinked and looked mildly taken aback._ Not quite the reaction I was looking for, full on gasp and surprise would've been better…_

"You see these walls are infested with harmful ecto-bestos. As the new proprietor it _is_ my responsibility to tear it down. With your own extensive background in demolition I'm sure you understand, Yes?" I made sure to put plenty of sarcasm and arrogance; sure it would piss him off.

"Yeah, I suppose you have to protect your investment." Danny said, bored. _Huh? I was sure he'd be mad after I destroyed his favorite spot._ He turned and left, looking bitterly amused. _Ah so he's just playing along, calling my "bluff" well Daniel I'm not bluffing and in these games I always win!_

Once everyone had left they all watched as an excessively huge demolition machine rolled up to the restaurant, the freakishly large Weight on the end poised over the Nasty Burger.

"3…2…1…Demolish!" the GIW agent spoke into a walkie-talkie. The enormous weight at the end of the huge crane fell down and crushed the building in one blow, sending rubble and various food and drink containers flying. _Ooooh, I knew that ridiculous machine was worth the extra money, just for the effect! Now to rub my victory in Daniel's face!_

"Let this be a lesson to you Danny, I put the 'pro' in _quid pro quo_, not that your bright enough to know what that means," I said as cruelly as possible. Danny's eye's flashed with anger, but quickly dissipated to a combination bittersweet amusement and… sadness?

"Off course this is a plot to make me feel even worse." He let out a forced chuckle. "Only you would blow millions of dollars on a petty prank." I couldn't help but feel somewhat puzzles by his reaction. I'd expected more along the lines of _I get the idea and I don't like it! Believe me, this isn't over yet._ I didn't know whether to be more or less annoyed at this response. "Just so you know, Vladdy, as much as I hate to admit it you won the moment they sent me to the nurse after your vultures' little exposé, if not before." I was shocked. _Nurse? Why would they send him to…?_ It was then that I noticed his cast.

"What happened to your leg?" I said, slipping into a tone of slight concern despite myself.

"Ember happened; it'll be gone by tomorrow, so I don't need your pity." He glared at my intrusions.

"You got hurt fighting ghosts… and everyone saw the injury?" I was shocked. I hadn't thought of that, though in retrospect it was the most likely outcome.

"Injurie_s_ Every single one." _He's been hurt a lot by these ghost attacks? Shouldn't his powers protect him? I never got hurt in ghost mode… than again I never fought ghosts on a daily basis either when I was younger, by the time I got around to fighting I was strong enough to avoid getting more than a scratch or so… is it that bad…? …I'll look into this later _"I had to admit to hunting ghosts, and even the accident, though they don't know the full extent of my 'condition'." He paused and shook his head. "I don't need to explain myself to you! Now if you don't mind I've got better things to do than sit back and take your pointless gloating." He turned to leave but stopped before he'd gone even 5 feet. Without even looking back he spoke to me in a hesitant and regretful voice. "I'm sorry for pulling those pranks on you." He walked off without another word.

* * *

Maddie's POV

As soon as we got home from the (attempted) hunt at Danny's school, I went back down to the computer to check the records on Danny's readings. The tracker picked up on the ghost that attacked Danny when he was about 2 blocks from the school. The weird thing is right before the ghost appeared on the radar there was a slight flux in that internal ecto-signature that Danny had mentioned, his internal temperature dropped slightly and his heart rate accelerated in response. Throughout the apparent fight his ecto-signature continued to fluctuate erratically, and his heart rate and adrenaline levels rose well above what it had been during his training, his heart rate stabilizing at 200. The oddest reading was a particularly large fluctuation centered on his hand when it was in contact with the other ghost, seemingly in response to some instability in his weakened foe. Was it some kind of defense mechanism? I pondered this new data with great curiosity.

*_Sigh* ok let's look at this one thing at a time. First are the energy fluctuation and the drop in temperature corresponding with the arrival of the ghosts; was this some kind of 'ghost sense' Danny had? This reaction, whatever it was, could tell there was a ghost as accurately as the ghost sensors, though it had no detectable distinction in direction…_

_his heart rate is justifiable, if a bit high, if his fast movement and increased adrenaline are any indicator… the thing that concerns me is this weird energy in him, there's as much as some of our weaker ecto guns, and when it increased during the excitement of fight, it seemed to have the potential to increase indefinitely, with the right trigger, there was no instability in the power production whatsoever, and while there is no damage or deterioration to Danny's body so far, I'd hate to think what to dramatic an increase would do to him!_ I shuddered a bit and tried not to think about it. _Although… if we could harness the energy, we could make something that could use it to give him an edge in battle_

(Somewhere out there Danny stopped what he was doing and started laughing uncontrollably due to a sudden, inexplicable feeling of immense irony)

I was still pondering the new information and was about to ask Jack about it when I heard a noise upstairs. _Ah Danny and his friends are home! Odd, they usually 'hang out' at the nasty burger till much later than this on a Friday._ I decided to go up and check on them. I stopped on the steps when I heard them in the kitchen. Danny was talking to his friends.

"Damn Skulker, I really had to push myself today, all because I had to hold back because of this stupid tracking device! Even with all that I'm sure they got some odd readings. *Sigh* the only good thing about this is at least I learned my lesson about stupid pranks and meaningless fights… why do I always have to learn my lesson the hard way!" He complained loudly.

"Actually I'd say the lesson is don't get in a prank war with Vlad, I think you should milk the whole 'Dash-is-afraid-of-you' thing a bit more." Tucker grinned

"Cheer up Danny, at least Vlad isn't gonna do anything else for a while now, with as much money and effort he used on that Nasty burger stunt it'll take a while to form his next evil plot." Sam said

"Well not necessarily, it was only 3 days between the invisible wall stunt and this crap with demolishing the Nasty bur- ouch!" Tucker was cut short by what sounded like a swift stomp of Sam's combat boot. _Huh? The invisible wall was Vlad's doing! I don't know whether to yell at him for trying to embarrass Danny or thank him for bringing Danny's dangerous hobby to light!_

"Gee thanks guys." Danny said, his voice dripping with sarcasm though I could tell he was smiling as well. "Still the sooner I get this thing off the sooner I can go ghost and fight the way I normally do. Till then I just gotta get used to the ecto guns and pray to god this training they want me to do isn't too bad." '_Go ghost?' 'Get used to the ecto guns?' what on earth is going ghost and how did he fight before if he needs to get used to fighting with the guns? _"Anyway, how're the modifications on that specter deflector coming Tuck?"

"I just finished it last night! This thing won't hurt you now! And if I calibrated it correctly it ought to be about 20% stronger against other ghosts."

"Whoa, nice one Tuck! But remember last time you did that you decreased the battery life and when it went into 'power conservation mode' it shocked me?"

"I fixed that problem!" Tucker sounded slightly insulted. "This time I hardwired the command rather than just write a program that could be changed when it goes into different modes." he then sounded proud of himself as he handed Danny the apparently modified Specter deflector.

"Ok, fair enough. Thanks Tuck."Danny said, putting it on and activating it. He Gasped slightly and his friends looked worried "Woo, tingly, this'll do for now but you might wanna double check those calibrations. Now let's get out of here before my parents realize we're here and decide it's time for that training."

"I don't see what you're so worried about, what kind of training could they possibly come up with that would scare Danny Ph…" Sam started but Danny cut her off.

"Let's just say I have bad memories from the last time they tried to teach me ghost hunting stuff" he shuddered. "Never let a 7 year old hold a bazooka, and never demonstrate a black belt level martial arts move on him afterwards." I couldn't help but feel a bit guilty at that and a little peeved. _I pulled all my punches to the point of barely brushing against him! And that bazooka was half the weight and the strength of the ones we use, there was no way to know the recoil would send him that far back… besides he hit the target dead center! We never did finish those lessons. Stupid Child Services…_

"Oh come on Danny, you're stronger than that now, do you really think you can't take a hit from your Mom, or a stray shot from your Dad? And weren't you just saying the other day that human punches were painless to you now?" Sam was still trying to cheer him up. _Ah what a nice girl, I wish Danny would just start dating her already… what's she mean by that last part, 'human' punches are painless?_

"_Virtually_ painless, and Mom is no Dash Baxter, she really knows how to punch! And a kick, and, throw, and twist limbs at impossible angles, and…" he started to hyperventilate _I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted._

"Oh come on! Think about it won't it be cool to learn to fight from a master 9th degree black belt like your Mom? We'll even take the lessons with you!" _Alright enough eaves dropping_ I made a point of making rather heavy footsteps on the final few steps and opened the door to the kitchen

"Hi kids, welcome back! What were you talking about?" I said, maybe a bit too cheerily. Even if I hadn't just been listening to them I would have known they had just stopped talking about me. Danny started a stuttered reply but Sam cut him off.

"We were wondering what kind of training you were going to give Danny and he was telling us how cool it was when you gave him fighting lessons in the past, so I was wondering if you'd be willing to give all three of us martial arts lessons together!" She said confidently with a devious smirk toward Danny. _Ah good old Sam, she's such a good influence on him. When will that clueless boy open his eyes… you know, this could provide an 'interesting' opportunity._ I smiled, maybe a little too widely.

"Of course, I'd be happy to pass along what I know! In fact if you want we can start tomorrow. That's when Danny said his Leg would be done healing right?" Danny glared at Sam in what he probably thought was a Discreet manner.

"Ah… actually yeah it'll be better tomorrow but it might still be a bit sore even if the bone is in one piece…" *_Sigh* Danny is a horrible liar. How the heck did he hide this stuff from us for so long?_

"Sunday, then! That'll give me some time to get you each a uniform to wear!" I said exuberantly. Danny Glared at Sam again, Sam's smile widened, and Tucker just stared back and forth between the three of us in distress before eventually collapsing in a chair, looking resigned. _Yes this training will be more fun than I thought if Sam is training with Danny._ I turned and went back to the basement.

* * *

Tucker's POV

Ya know, I was reluctant to do this martial arts training, but I'm really glad that I decided to come, even though I didn't end up doing much. The reason I' m glad I came is I get to watch the lovebirds go all 'blushy' as they practice Mrs. Fenton's martial arts lesson with each other, half of the move involving being within about a foot of each other of course. And their outfits didn't help either.

First there was Sam's outfit. She wore a surprisingly from-fitting black gi with purple trim, the front of which closed in a low, precarious V that exposed a decent bit of skin but left just enough to the imagination.

Danny on the other hand, had been all but forced to forgo the top of his gi by his mother after sweating for a half hour in a rigorous review of what Mrs. Fenton had taught him previously, though he still wore his purple belt and white with black trim pants. Mrs. Fenton would demonstrate a move and then tell those two to practice it, often resulting in tripping and falling on one another a few times with many 'moments' before getting it.

Mrs. Fenton just gave up on me in the first 10 minutes and instead had me read the blueprints for some of the Fenton inventions at the side of the lab (after swearing me to secrecy lest she hunt down and destroy all my precious electronic babies.). so that's how it went; I watched from the sidelines and vaguely pretended to read the blueprints I'd already had practically memorized while Danny and Sam practiced.

I couldn't help but laugh as Sam once again fell on top of Danny and they stopped and stared at each other for several seconds before turning red again and getting up. _How the heck is Mrs Fenton OK with this, aren't Parents supposed to be wary of all girl-boy interactions? Or is that just the girl's parents? Eh I suppose they're just following her instructions._ I looked over at Mrs. Fenton and was surprised to see her giggling and smiling warmly at the two. _…no way!_ I sidled up next to Mrs. Fenton discretely with my back still to her in the guise of viewing yet another diagram of an ecto-electrical transformer.

"You're doing this on purpose aren't you" I said quietly, without looking up from the diagram.

"Whatever are you talking about," she replied, surprisingly cheekily.

"Forcing Danny and Sam into situations where they end up really close to each other."

"You noticed huh? I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone." she said slyly. I didn't need to look to know she was smirking.

"I think my respect for you just doubled, I almost never have the guts to try and play matchmaker with those two. You are a black winged cupid, Mrs. F." She giggled and continued to watch them, but didn't respond.

I turned back to the blueprints that I was supposed to be looking at and something caught my attention. I discreetly moved over and pushed the other various sheets of paper away… And found the plans for Danny's locator bracelet. _Jackpot!_

* * *

A/N Oookay so this took a lot longer to write than I thought, it seemed like every time I tried to write, something came up. At least I managed to get a decent length! R&R! Suggestions welcome!


	5. The real training begins night & day

I have this chapter written on my other computer, but do to certain technical difficulties, I have a feeling that I won't be able to access that file any time soon. I was planning on editing it and re-writing the ending anyway, so I guess it's a moot point... anyway, on with the story! I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

Maddie's POV

I am very impressed by how much Danny remembers of what I taught him when he was younger. He preformed every move I asked of him perfectly and got each of the new moves I taught him perfectly... when he was done playing with his girlfriend at least. But I have an odd feeling he's not giving his all. His heart rate never exceeded 150 during the review. It went up to 180 when practicing, but that had more to do with who he was practicing with than how much he was exerting himself physically. _*sigh* well we've gotten about as far as we're gonna training this way._

"Excellent job kids. Sam, you go practice on your own. I think it's about time I give Danny some hands on training" I said. I caught a glint of fear in his eye and while I feel bad about that I know that he's not truly going to get any better if he practices with someone he has to hold back on. Sam gave him a sympathetic look and complied. I took a stance and a deep breath.

"You've done much better than I had expected and I think it's time to assess exactly what fighting skills you've picked up 'on the job' during your hunts."

"A-and h-how are you gonna do that?" Danny said, warily taking a similar stance.

"Sparring, of course." I said with an unintentionally dark smile. I struck first with a simple punch to his chest to test the most basic of his defenses. _Blocked perfectly as expected... eh, let's keep it a simple warm up for now._ I kept a consent onslaught of moderate strikes, which he of course kept up with perfectly. I glanced towards the computer screen, where his heart rate and other basic vitals (plus internal Ecto-energy level) were displayed. _Hmmm... his heart rate and adrenaline spiked a bit when I first attacked, but now they're back down to 155 or so, and his ectoplasmic signature is stable, not erratic like it was during the fight with the ghost. Almost like he's getting into the rhythm. Good. But let's change that._ For the next half hour or so we kept fighting, kicking it up a notch every time Danny started to get too comfortable. _This is quite odd... I have yet to land a single blow. And neither has Danny. The question is though, is it because he can't or because he won't? I'm obviously holding back, I'm a 9th dan black-belt for goodness' sake! But... is Danny holding back too? He hardly seems to be exerting himself, if his heart rate, adrenaline, and breathing are any indication... let's give him a little test. _On my next strike I intentionally moved slowly upon withdrawing, leaving me wide open for a hit to the ribs. I saw his eyes flicker as he recognized the opening but rather than take it he used the pause in the fight to reinforce his stance, which I could now tell was primarily defensive. I bumped it up another notch.

"You should have taken that opening. You will never beat your enemy if you're fighting purely defensively and never attack."

"But you're not my enemy! You're my Mom!" Danny kept up perfectly again and once more the readings on the computer barely changed.

"For the sake of this sparring, yes I am!" I jumped up in a flip and brought my heel down for what would be a strike right on the top of his head. "Now, since this won't be any fun if both of us are holding back, I won't!" Danny rolled to the side and into a crouch, starting a sweeping kick to my feet as my foot made contact with the floor, leaving a decent crack, and I barely jumped up in time. And apparently I jumped too high, because Danny's next blow landed when I was in mid-air and had no way of moving out of the way. I blocked it, but the impact sent me tumbling to a less than graceful landing until I finally rolled into a fighting stance several feet away, while Danny landed neatly right where he had been, smirking.

"So be it." _Now things are getting interesting._ The next hour literally made our previous "training" seem like child's play. I gave it my all and Danny was finally struggling somewhat to keep up, his heart-rate was finally escalating to between 180 and 190, his breathing heavy but expertly controlled. But even while Danny was starting to struggle I found myself struggling a bit at times as well. Now, some small part of me was saying that I was going too far and that I shouldn't push him and risk hurting him, but that small motherly side was drowned out by my inner scientist, who was curious to see what Danny was capable of, my logical side, who said that he was holding up just fine and that it's possible it's _me_ I should be worried about, and my inner fighter, who was just having too much damn fun.

_I haven't fought this hard since the Pariah Dark invasion! But back to business, I started this match to study his fighting style and skill level that's what I'm gonna do. Now that Danny is actually trying I can see that he has learned primarily from his ghost fights, he's more of a rough and tumble street fighter then a refined martial artist. He's slow to retaliate after defending from a major attack, I've observed this in ghost fights before, and they tend to send their opponent flying too far away for immediate physical retaliation. He also seems to be good at attacking an opponent who's above him, as I saw when the real fight started, which is only to be expected when you're used to fighting opponents that can fly... though he's also good at attacking from above, and the way he acts when he's in the air for an attack, it almost seems like he subconsciously expects to stay there... Definitely Odd. He flinches away from my movements slightly even when it's obvious that he's moved far enough away to avoid them, probably because he's used to fighting enemies that can shoot energy from their hands. He primarily dodges and ducks, a sign that he's used to fighting beings of immense strength that he can't afford to simply block..._

My reflections were put on hold momentarily as Danny stumbled slightly on a landing from a flip. I took advantage of the opening and hit him with everything I had, sending him flying a good 10 feet into the wall, where he collided with a thud, his back first then his head, with a sickening thwack. He fell to the ground, down for the first time since we started. Time seemed to slow as the severity of what I had done sunk in. For the first time I remembered Sam and Tucker on the sidelines, Sam called out to Danny in concern while Tucker was busily typing away on his PDA, looking up momentarily and made some lighthearted comment that earned him a glare from Sam. I didn't hear what it was, deafened by the wave of guilt I felt. But before I even managed to come out of my daze, Danny picked himself up, a little shaky, then shook himself off and smiled, all mere seconds after he fell.

"Nice hit, Mom, but it takes more than that to bring me down!" I was pulled rudely back into reality by a swift punch to the face that I barely managed to dodge. _Remarkable! He took that like it was little more that a punch to the gut! Does his 'condition' afford him that much extra durability? _I put my efforts to maneuvering around to look at Danny's back, a task which proved to be rather difficult, but after a few minutes I managed to duck behind him and get a look at his back. It was too early for any bruising but his back was pink. _He definitely felt that, but it's barely red, no bruising whatsoever! Damn... if he gets up that easily after a near full force hit from a martial arts master I'd hate to think what broke his bones like that... he must have picked up a pretty high tolerance for pain... Come on, Maddie, he was walking on a broken leg for days with no more than an occasional wince of course he has a high tolerance for pain._ _Damn you, ghosts! How dare you do this to my baby boy!_ I could feel my anger rising, and let it out in one wild punch, realizing too late just how sloppy my anger made the otherwise powerful blow. Danny, however, realized just in time. He smiled as he spotted his chance and deftly deflected the blow to the side with his left hand, leaving me slightly off-balance and my chest wide open for an attack. This time he didn't hesitate to take the opening, and landed a single neat, powerful palm strike dead center on my sternum, pushing the air out of my lungs and sending me flying. Once more the world moved in slow motion as I collided with the wall, just like Danny had earlier. Danny's smile faded immediately as he realized what had happened. _Déjà vu anyone? At least now I know why he was holding back before. I think I heard something crack._ I became vaguely aware of someone at my side while the edges of my vision started to go dark

"MOM!" maybe it was the possible concussion but I couldn't help but smile

"Nice hit Danny. I think you've passed this lesson with flying colors" The world went black.

* * *

Danny's POV

"Sam, get me the level two first aid kit under my bed. Tucker, toss me that flashlight on your way up then get an ice pack from the freezer and then call Dad!" I jumped into action and swiftly did what preliminary checks I could before getting the first aid kit. _Ok let check her head first... oh, she actually added that protective lining to the hood of her jumpsuit like Jazz suggested. Heh, and she was disappointed they didn't have the gi she wanted in her size. Anyway, she's breathing fine, pulse is normal, no bleeding on her head or out her ears or nose, Pupil dilation normal, her neck seems fine. No head or neck injury so it should be safe to move her..._ I quickly laid her down and removed the top of her jumpsuit. _Ooh, it's already starting to bruise, the injury is in the shape of my hand..._I shook off a brief guilty feeling and started to check for broken bones. I watched the computer carefully and used just enough energy to turn mom's skin semi- transparent without it looking like it was more than a fluctuation from nervousness. Sam returned with the first aid kit and looked startled and a bit queasy at the exposed veins, muscle, and bone, _Thank god for ghost powers, I could never handle broken bones as well without them. One... two... three cracked ribs... damn it! Oh well it could be worse, whenever something hits me hard enough to break my ribs it seems like 3-5 is a minimum requirement. A least they aren't floating, they should heal without being set._ I sat her up, lifting her carefully so she didn't slouch into her broken ribs, and checked her back. _No breaks here, though she's bruised pretty badly. _I started applying the topical anesthetic to the bruises just as Tucker came down with the ice pack.

"Sorry I took so long did you know that some of the Popsicles in the freezer are alive? It took forever to get your Dad to shut up long enough to explain... why is your Mom half na-?" Sam rolled her eyes and shoved him back up the stairs, grabbing the ice-packs and placing them besides me on standby. It barely registered as I had already started with the bandages, having a bit of difficulty since I wasn't used to giving first aid to anyone other than myself and I wasn't used to bandaging around female anatomy, but I still managed to do a better job than usual. One last one-over revealed no further problems. I picked up Mom with ease and carefully carried her up to her room and laid her down in her bed. I placed the ice packs carefully where they would best serve their purpose. Assured that Mom would be fine, I went to my room and collapsed, allowing the guilt to wash over me.

* * *

Sam's POV

"Tucker, get your ass up outa that chair and come with me to help Danny!" Danny had carried his mom up to her room ages ago and not only had Danny not come back down but Tucker hadn't even seemed to notice, tapping away at that damn PDA instead. Is that stupid game really that important to you" He still didn't as much as look up. "*Sigh* Come on." I grabbed him by the ear and pulled him to the stairs _Damn he's really in the zone he didn't even flinch when I pulled his ear. What the heck is he playing?_ The thought was fleeting when we reached Danny's room and I went in without bothering to knock. "You all right Danny? You better not be sulking in here." _but of course he is._ Danny was lying on his bed with his eyes closed, pretending to sleep. _He's actually pretty good at pretending to sleep, except that his breath is a little too steady. And his face is so much more peaceful than when he's really asleep... Wait no I am not staring at Danny's face!_ Come on Danny your mom is fine right? She was proud of you, you heard what she said, she was trying to help you and you did exactly what she told you to do. For a moment there was silence. Then Danny spoke without even opening his eyes.

"That's the problem; I gave in to Mom's whole 'I am the enemy' thing even though I knew I could hurt her. If I can give in to hurting my own mother this easily what's to keep me from doing other things I've been trying not to do? What if this is another Trigger?"

"Oh come on Danny, You're sorry aren't you? There is no way one little mistake could make... _Him_ come back." I couldn't help but spit the word. Danny wasn't the only one who remembered that incident but there's something wrong if he seriously thinks this is another CAT. "Do you really think this little mishap could make you break your promise?"

"YES!" Tucker exclaimed, Once more showing his mastery of the art of bad timing and earning himself a slap, finally bringing him to the real world.

"Quit playing your stupid games and pay attention!"

"OW! Wait you think I'm doing WHAT? Surely you know my sheer genius is being put to better use than playing trivial games!"

"Well it's certainly not being put toward self preservation!" I shot back with a glare and a clenched fist.

"Could we please not fight? Now, no offense Tuck but your track record is kinda against you on this one." Danny was sitting on the bed watching with mild amusement. _Not what I was going for but if it'll get him to stop sulking..._

"Humph, you would side with your girlfriend." Tucker said with his arms crossed and a frowning pout on his face.

"(She's/I'm) not (my/his) girl- AAAH! Why do I even bother?" I mentally cursed our perfect unison.

"What have you been doing if not gaming?" Danny quickly changed the subject while Tucker smiled his annoying smile.

"I've been reviewing the scans I took of the blueprints for Danny's bracelet!" he showed us the PDA, which displayed a 3D computerized model of the device, with a complex looking series of 1s and 0s running through a box in the lower portion of the screen that I could only assume to be the program the bracelet operated on. _Wow. I was not expecting that._

"Wow. That's actually impressive." Danny said, echoing my unspoken sentiments. I stood by impassively though I did raise an eyebrow.

"You say that like you're surprised." Tucker started to gloat but was cut short by a quick glare. "Anyway, with some minor modifications I can make the digital model work like the real thing, and send fake readings to your parents' monitor. That way you can do whatever the heck you want without your parents knowing." We looked at him blankly and be continued.

"Ok so at first I thought I might be able to get it off of you, but it's on a genetic lock that only your parents can open, besides there would be no way to hide it from your parents since you would seem to be dead if it received no readings.

"Next I thought I would hack it, except that there is physically no way to enter it to hack as this is a one way transmitter, and there're no hardwired connectors, and the only thing this will receive data for is the communications, and that's on a separate circuit from any of the sensors or locks, and even if we could hack it that leaves a similar problem, the data will look weird during the hack.

"So what we're gonna do is set up a relay between the transmitter on your wrist and the receiver in the lab. I'll make an external device to alter the frequency of the signal as it leaves the bracelet, which is received by the relay, which turns it back to the original frequency and transmits the data to the receiver as if nothing happened. The only difference is that then we'll be able to hack and alter the signal at the relay. So whatdaya think?" He stopped and smiled contentedly. We remained silent.

"Honestly, I think this is too brilliant to work." Danny said, looking genuinely impressed but not convinced.

"I'm with Danny, call me a skeptic but I'm sensing a big catch here." Tucker's face instantly fell to a bit more modest level.

"Well there is one small catch…" he said hesitantly

"Which is…?" Danny and I spoke in unison

"Even if we hack the system it would be nearly impossible to falsify readings from something as complex as the human body, let alone a halfa's body. We could input previous readings but considering the record keeping they're doing it would be too easy to track. The best I could simulate would be a good, stable, night's sleep."

"But then what to do we do if my parents decide to check in on me while I'm sleeping…" Danny said.

"Or if there's a big ghost attack and your parents decide they need your help only to go into you room and find you're already gone…" I continued his thought.

"I could get myself grounded." Danny said. Tuckers eyes lit up.

"Now there's a plan that's just stupidly crazy enough to work!" I rolled my eyes and face palmed.

"Just stupid enough to blow up in your face you mean. You'll just end up getting watched even more carefully and being forced to keep the bracelet on for longer." I said.

"So what should I do, blow up the lab?" _And they completely ignore me._

"Nah, too dangerous, 'sides your Dad already does that too often for them to take it seriously. You should go for a crime befitting the punishment, breaking curfew maybe?" _you have got to be kidding me._

"Nah I do that all the time anyway." _You almost sound like you think that's a good thing._

"Well yeah but they know the reason now."

"Guys."

"What good does that do that just means they're more likely to be a bit lenient"

"_Guys!_"

"Exactly! House arrest from 10pm to 7am rather than complete exclusion from the outside world."

"_GUYS!_" they finally shut up and listened to me, cringing slightly as they caught my gaze and realized their crime. "I think you should try something that _isn't_ subtle as a sledgehammer and twice as dense. A subtler and more manipulative approach is in order. If we're trying to create an alibi for you at night I think you should sic Jazz on them with some kind of health or psycho- bullshit about the importance of sleep for a teenage boy. Play the game right and we could probably end up with your room locked with Jazz holding the key so your parents don't have a choice but to let you alone."

"What did we just say about things being too brilliant to work?" Danny rolled his eyes and looked at me in exasperation like he was explaining things to a child

"Yeah Sam do you really think it's a good idea to get Jazz involved? She might just decide there's some truth to whatever story she feeds Mr. & Mrs. F and decide to make Danny actually sleep."

"Well the backfire isn't nearly as bad as what would happen if the 'get grounded' plan goes south!" I was really getting annoyed by these boys.

"You wanna bet!"Danny exclaimed. Tuckers eyes lit up and his face contorted in a faintly disturbing grin.

"Yes! We try Danny's idea first, and if it doesn't work we try Sam's Idea, Winner gets to kiss the loser!" I socked him "Loser has to kiss the winner?" he was still grinning through an already swelling cheek. Danny caught my hand before I could punch Tucker again.

"Ok maybe something more along the lines of a compromise is in order. Tucker actually touched on a good Idea there. It'll be best if we use my plan as a precursor to Sam's; I'll break curfew and stay up late just enough to make me tired and give grounds for Jazz's intervention."

"We could do that too..." Tuckers voice was starting to get distorted from the swelling.I chuckled inwardly._ Those lessons paid off. _I looked at Danny and couldn't help but smile. _So, Danny will have an alibi for nighttime...Fenton by day, Phantom by Night. This could be interesting..._

* * *

Yay! Finally done! And it only took three months. Seriously, I'm really sorry 'bout that and I'm as upset about it as you are. But I finally have my computer in working order again and assuming school doesn't get in the way, I will never have a gap in posts that long again. I'm kind of glad in a way though, I finally accessed the chapter five I had already typed and it wasn't nearly as good as this retype in my opinion, though I did pull a chunk of it for Sam's part, and that last little bit let me finish. Anyway hope you like it! R&R!


	6. Authors Note& Ch5rough

Hello Everyone! I know I said I wouldn't take so long to update in the future, but Between School, writers block, and computer difficulties I haven't been able to and probably won't update for a while, so consider Caught in the act! on hiatus. Now I'm not particularly a fan of author's notes and I dislike the prospect of putting on up myself so I figure why not put up the original chapter 5. It's not a new chapter, but I found it interesting to read after having completed the other one. it was kinda freaky how close some of the parts were considering I hadn't read this for weeks or months when I wrote the new one. but I digress. read or not, it's up to you. hope you like it if you do decide to read!

* * *

I don't own Danny Phantom.

Maddie's POV

I had really just meant this training session as a throwaway to get him in the swing of things and to get him closer to Sam, but I was very impressed by his performance. Before I threw in the distraction of Sam, he remembered and preformed all the techniques that I asked of him perfectly.

Then we actually got to sparring. At first he seemed to calculate his every move and watch me carefully, flinching every time he landed a blow on me. I snuck a glance at the computer monitor, where the readings from the Bracelet were displayed in a large font that could be more or less read from anywhere in the room, and saw that his heartbeat was barely 10bpm faster than usual. Even during his "practice" with Sam his heart had beat faster, then again that had little to do with physical exertion. _Is he holding back?_ I couldn't help but think, and decided to test him.

I lowered my defenses and his eyes flickered involuntarily as he saw the opening, but he didn't take it, instead taking the pause in the fight to re-solidify his own fighting stance. _So he his holding back… well this will be no fun if both of us are holding back. I think I ought to step it up a notch._ With an unintentionally twisted grin I redoubled my efforts and he kept up perfectly, though he still seemed hesitant to attack.

"Come on Danny, I'm sure you've learned by now you have to take the offensive when fighting an enemy." I said, closing in quickly and preparing for a strike to his torso

"But you're my Mom, not my enemy!" he sidestepped perfectly, striking my side in an attempt to set me off balance

"For the sake of these lessons, while we are sparring YES I AM!" I regained balance by lowering myself into a crouch, from which I spun around and kicked out his feet, making him fall. Somewhere in the back of my mind some vague thoughts floated around about how maybe I was getting a little too into this and this was why Danny had been hesitant to train with me, but I was too busy spinning up and bringing my foot down right on Danny's chest. Or at least where it would have been if he hadn't rolled out of the way and jumped/twisted/flipped back into a fighting stance, his eyes narrowed. I stole a glance at the computer and his heart rate had accelerated slightly. I smiled.

"Fine."

With one word the training was over and we really sparred. This is when Danny started to get sloppy in his martial arts, but the raw power of his fighting was impressive, And I found myself needing to step it up a bit more than I intended to keep up with him. _He must've developed a specific fighting style with the ghosts… now that I think about it I've never seen any ghosts use anything more than mindless street fighting, punching each other through walls… Danny's slow to retaliate after defending… he's probably used to being launched too far away from his enemy for a physical counterattack to be any good._

I unconsciously got angry at the ghosts and let it out in my next wild strike. I cursed inwardly the moment I did so. He smiled and easily blocked the strong but sloppy hit, returning fire with a single powerful palm strike that landed solidly in my chest, knocking the wind out of me and sending me flying a good ten feet back into the wall. The last thing I saw as my vision clouded and to world went black was Danny's smile fade as he let out a cry that I could barely make out I smiled faintly. _Ah. That's why he was holding back…_

"_**Mom**_!"

* * *

Danny's POV

"Sam, 'level 2' first aid kit, in my room, back of the closet; Tucker, get some ice and tell Dad!" With that my friends rushed off and I started the preliminary examination of my Mother. _Ok first of all head and neck, she's unconscious but hopefully it's just a mild concussion… quite a bump but her neck seems ok… _I grabbed a Fenton flashlight and opened her eyelids. _Pupils dialing properly, no bleeding out the ears or nose… ya know I think that doctor was right about me being disturbingly good at this…_I started to remove the top of her gi as Sam came down with the first aid kit. I accepted it without looking and continued to check Mom. She had a bruise forming over her sternum in the shape of my hand and her entire back was bruised from the impact with the wall. I pressed along each rib carefully, felling for a break and watching for any unconscious reaction from Mom. _Well no broken ribs as far as I can tell… ah, there's one… two… three… the world just loves proving me wrong… three, that's all, and none of them are floating. Well that's something, if anything hits me hard enough to break a rib I always seem to get at least five… lucky me it takes quite a bit too actually do that._ I finished that as Tucker came back with the ice.

"Here's the ice, I called your dad and He's coming from wherever it was Mrs. F sent him to get him out of the way… why is she…" Sam took the ice and turned him around, kicking him back towards the door. I motioned for her to put it down next to me as I applied a topical anesthetic to the bruises and started to wrap the gauze around her torso, a little less neatly than I would with myself since I wasn't used to bandaging others and I wasn't used to working around breasts, but I still did a top class job. I Checked her head and neck once more to make sure there weren't any injuries I'd missed, and made a quick makeshift neck brace just in case, before gingerly picking her up and carrying her up to her room, putting her in her bed and finally placing the icepacks. _Phew, ok she'll be just fine. Now I can break down racked with guilt without the additional guilt of not helping mom when she needed me._ I collapsed, exhausted.

* * *

Sam's POV

I was surprised by how readily Danny took charge of the situation after he accidentally knocked out his mom. _I guess that annoying doctor was right about '__first aid that is on par with that of a trained battlefield medic'. What I'm impressed by is the fact that he has the attitude to back it up. Well up until he fainted at least._I stroked Danny's hair absentmindedly, his head resting on my lap as he slept restlessly, obviously feeling very guilty. For the hundredth time since we moved Danny to his room Tucker smiled smugly at us and for the hundredth time I shot him a withering glare and he shrunk back and continued to toy with his PDA. He kept frowning at it and clicking away distractedly, and considering the circumstances, for his sake he better have a good reason for ignoring his friends in favor of a stupid electronic piece of

"Done!" he exclaimed with a final victorious tap on the screen.

"Beat your high score yet?" I asked a bit bitterly.

"What! You think I've been spending the past hour playing games!" Tucker exclaimed, genuinely insulted. "No way, I've been reviewing the scans I took of the blueprints for Danny's bracelet!" he showed me the PDA, which displayed a 3D computerized model of the device, with a complex looking series of 1s and 0s running through a box in the lower portion of the screen that I could only assume to be the program the bracelet operated on.

"…Wow. I'm sorry I doubted you." I said sincerely. "So does that mean you have a plan?" Of course he took my apology as an indirect compliment and suddenly became full of himself. Well, more so than usual.

"All in good time, The Tucker's genius shall be revealed when all those concerned are conscious. So we'll just have to wait until your sleeping beauty wakes up. Unless you wanna kiss him, that'd get him up pretty quickly… damn that sounded wro…" I cut him off with a boot to the face, my own face turning redder than I'd like to admit. Just then Danny stirred. _Oh god I hope he didn't hear that last bit…_

"Danny? You feeling better?" I asked. He opened his eyes the rest of the way and looked up at me.

"Yeah, how long was I out?"

"Only about fifteen minutes."

"Not for four day's this time Tuck?" He said to Tucker with grin.

"Look at where you're laying down before you make a crack at me." Tuck said. Danny turned only to find his face and inch away from my stomach. He and I turned red. _Oh yeah I'd forgotten about that._ He practically jumped off my lap and Tucker started laughing.

"Tuckerino 2, DannyXSam 0" my face turned brighter red at the 'DannyXSam' thing and I refused to look at Danny though I'm sure he was as well. I felt a sudden need to change the subject.

"Just tell us what you figured out about the Bracelet!" Tucker smirked but complied

"Ok so at first I thought I might be able to get it off of you, but it's on a genetic lock that only your parents can open, besides there would be no way to hide it from your parents since you would seem to be dead if it received no readings.

"Next I thought I would hack it, except that there is physically no way to enter it to hack as this is a one way transmitter, and there're no hardwired connectors, and the only thing this will receive data for is the communications, and that's on a separate circuit from any of the sensors or locks, and even if we could hack it that leaves a similar problem, the data will look weird during the hack.

"So what we're gonna do is set up a relay between the transmitter on your wrist and the receiver in the lab. I'll make an external device to alter the frequency of the signal as it leaves the bracelet, which is received by the relay, which turns it back to the original frequency and transmits the data to the receiver as if nothing happened. The only difference is that then we'll be able to hack and alter the signal at the relay. So whatdaya think?" He stopped and smiled contentedly. We remained silent.

"Honestly, I think this is too brilliant to work." Danny said, looking genuinely impressed but not convinced.

"I'm with Danny, call me a skeptic but I'm sensing a big catch here." Tucker's face instantly fell to a bit more modest level.

"Well there is one small catch…" he said hesitantly

"Which is…?" Danny and I spoke in unison

"Even if we hack the system it would be nearly impossible to falsify readings from something as complex as the human body, let alone a halfa's body. We could input previous readings but considering the record keeping they're doing it would be too easy to track. The best I could simulate would be a good, stable, night's sleep."

"But then what to do we do if my parents decide to check in on me while I'm sleeping…" Danny said.

"Or if there's a big ghost attack and your parents decide they need your help only to go into you room and find you're already gone…" I continued his thought.

"You could get yourself grounded." Tucker said. Danny's eyes lit up.

"Now there's a plan that's just stupidly crazy enough to work!" I rolled my eyes and face palmed.

"Just stupid enough to blow up in your face you mean. You'll just end up getting watched even more carefully and being forced to keep the bracelet on for longer." I said.

"So what should I do, blow up the lab?" _And they completely ignore me._

"Nah, too dangerous, 'sides your Dad already does that too often for them to take it seriously. You should go for a crime befitting the punishment, breaking curfew maybe?" _you have got to be kidding me._

"Nah I do that all the time anyway." _You almost sound like you think that's a good thing._

"Well yeah but they know the reason now."

"Guys."

"What good does that do that just means they're more likely to be a bit lenient"

"_Guys!_"

"Exactly! House arrest from 10pm to 7am rather than complete exclusion from the outside world."

"_GUYS!_" they finally shut up and listened to me, cringing slightly as they caught my gaze and realized their crime. "I think you should try something that _isn't_ subtle as a sledgehammer and twice as dense. A subtler and more manipulative approach is in order. If we're trying to create an alibi for you at night I think you should sic Jazz on them with some kind of health or psycho- bullshit about the importance of sleep for a teenage boy. Play the game right and we could probably end up with your room locked with Jazz holding the key so your parents don't have a choice but to let you alone."

"What did we just say about things being too brilliant to work?" Danny rolled his eyes and looked at me in exasperation like he was explaining things to a child

"Yeah Sam do you really think it's a good idea to get Jazz involved? She might just decide there's some truth to whatever story she feeds the Mr. & Mrs. F and decide to make Danny actually sleep."

"Well the Backfire isn't nearly as bad as what would happen if the 'get grounded' plan goes south!" I was really getting annoyed by these boys.

"You wanna bet!"Danny exclaimed. Tuckers eyes lit up and his face contorted in a faintly disturbing grin.

"Yeah! First we try Danny's and my idea, he'll stay up really late to catch ghosts, then if that doesn't work we'll use that as the pretense for Sam's plan with Jazz! He started to type wildly on the PDA and a few moments later left and came back with a printed piece of paper that looked like a contract, apparently having printed it from his PDA. I was so angry that I signed it right away, eager for a chance to prove the boys wrong. I passed it to Danny, who sighed and actually read it before he signed it and froze for some reason. He glared at Tucker and signed it reluctantly.

"You're lucky I need you alive for this plan to work Tucker. And Sam, try reading things before you sign them!" He shoved the paper at Tucker and I took it from him before he could protest. My face turned red from a mixture of embarrassment and a feeling of sheer stupidity. _Danny and I (sorta) agreed to a bet but we didn't decide on the conditions. "Lucky" for Danny and me, Tucker has us covered._ I groaned, anxious to see the end of this, but hoping it would never come at the same time.

**This is the contract of the wager made between **

**Daniel Fenton **

**and**

**Samantha Manson.**

**Tucker Foley is witness and scribe to this contract.**

**For security purposes the nature of the Wager will not be stated in writing.**

**If Sam Loses she has to kiss Danny**

**If Daniel Fenton Loses he has to kiss Sam.**

**If one signs and the other does not than the one that signed is the loser**

**(As he/she cannot win against a nonexistent opponent)**

**By signing the contract the participants assure Tucker Foley will live through this.**

_**X**___Sam Manson__

_**X**___Danny Fenton_ _

_Damn Tucker…_

I smiled in spite of myself

* * *

AN there, see? I much prefer the other one. I did the DannyXSam to much to soon in this one. and I like that I expanded on the fight stuff and maddie's observation.


End file.
